For International Women’s Day 2024, the influential Women’s Health magazine highlighted a small group of women campaigning to make the world a fairer place – and MS Founder Diane Danzebrink is among them.
The magazine’s choice of spotlighted individuals, as well as Diane, includes Tinuke Awe and Clotilde Abe, founders of FIVEXMORE, campaigning GP Dr Sonia Adesara, Dr Barbara Guinn, Biomedical Scientist, and Prof Pragya Agarwal, author of Hysterical: Exploding the Myth of Gendered Emotions.
Here’s what the magazine had to say about Diane:
“Cast your mind back a few years and you’ll recall that – prior to campaigning from the likes of Davina McCall – open conversations around the menopause were rare. That’s something Danzebrink has spent years seeking to change. She founded the national #MakeMenopauseMatter campaign and the not-for-profit Menopause Support, which offers support for individuals and awareness training for organisations.
What is your mission?
My mission is, and always has been, to ensure that everyone has the right information about menopause at the right time. This would allow those who will experience it directly to feel prepared, and make some informed decisions for themselves about how they manage the menopause transition. Those who will be indirectly affected will feel more able to offer understanding and support. Finally, everyone must be able to access the care and support that they deserve at the point of need.
What are your proudest achievements so far?
Supporting thousands of women and some of their partners and family members every year and successfully campaigning for menopause to be added to the RSE curriculum in schools in England and for all medical students to learn about menopause.
I was proud to publish a booklet titled ‘Understanding Menopause’ booklet which has now been added to the British Menopause Society and Women’s Health Concern websites and has enjoyed an incredible response from everyone including NHS GPs, Nurses and clinics.
What are your hopes for the future?
That the remaining aims of the #MakeMenopauseMatter campaign – mandatory menopause training for GPs and a nationally funded public health campaign for menopause – will be met. They are common sense, cost effective, measures that would positively impact the lives of millions and save the NHS a fortune.
That those who have the ability to change things for the better, at national level, will stop talking about it and get on and do it. We need menopause education for health care professionals and information for the public, worldwide. There is a lot of life to be lived post menopause but too many, around the world, continue to suffer in silence due to a lack of information and support. That must change. We must be the generation to #MakeMenopauseMatter.”
Published by Hearst, Women’s Health is known as the UK’s number one authority on health and wellness.
